White House: Russia has tried world’s patience

Secretary of State John Kerry’s decision to cut off talks with Russia over Syrian peace plans is reflective of the world’s exasperation with Moscow, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday.

“I think everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,” Earnest said about Kerry’s decision, which came just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will no longer honor its agreement with the United States to destroy 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium.

“They’ve also spent a great deal of credibility in making a series of commitments without any clear indication that they were committed to following them,” Earnest said about Russia’s military support of Syrian President Bashar Assad that was ostensibly linked to transitioning the strongman out of power.

“You’ll recall that when Russia announced this military intervention in Syria about a year or so ago, they did so with the intent to, quote, ‘unite a broad range of forces,'” Earnest said. “Well, here we are a year later and Russia is standing alone with Iran trying to prop up the Assad regime while the rest of the international community rebukes them for the tactics that they have used inside of Syria and while the rest of the international community works with the United States as a part of our coalition to go after ISIL and other extremists that operating inside of Syria.”

Earnest used the Obama administration’s preferred acronym for the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

“There’s also not a whole lot that Russia at this point has to show for their efforts on the ground,” Earnest continued. “They’re in a stalemate and, again, they’ve been reduced to either acting unilaterally or supporting the Iranians in dropping bunker-busting bombs on civilian hospitals in Aleppo,” he said, referring to U.S. claims that Russia or its allies bombed a hospital and United Nations humanitarian convoys in what was Syria’s largest city before civil war broke out more than five years ago.

“It’s outrageous. And it’s drawn international condemnation not just from the United States, but from countries around the world,” Earnest said.

Russia claims to be fighting the Islamic State, but hasn’t accomplished “a significant counter-ISIL objective in more than seven months and they have been reduced to trying to claim credit for successful U.S. operations,” Earnest said, referring to Russian officials’ claims that the Russian military conducted the August airstrike that took out Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the Islamic State’s chief propagandist and leader of external operations.

“I think that’s an indication that they don’t have too much to claim credit for when it comes to fighting extremists and fighting ISIL,” Earnest said, adding that Moscow is only jeopardizing its internal security by aiding Assad.

Earnest said that President Obama never agreed to cooperate militarily with Russia in Syria because Putin would not honor numerous cease-fire agreements.

“President Obama was insistent that the United States would not be in a position to provide Russia what they wanted, which is military cooperation, until Russia had demonstrated their commitment to living up to the terms of the [cease-fire] agreement,” Earnest said.

“The United States didn’t make any concessions at the beginning of the negotiations, and I think the world has been quite cognizant and quite clear and quite critical of what Russia has been doing over the last several weeks,” he said.

“What’s clear is that there is nothing more for the United States and Russia to talk about with regard to trying to reach an agreement that would reduce the violence inside of Syria. And that’s tragic.”

Related Content